Call me a lunatic, but i'm pretty sure that if Thimbleweed Park would have been released in the 90s, it would be definitely considered as one of the greatest point and click adventures of all time.
If i could imagine a reason why Thimbleweed Park was a succesful game, one loved by many, that reason would probably be because of how good it is in creating a world of it’s own. This is not just pure atmosphere (which could be considered an aesthetical effect) but also because of how well written everything is. I feel like the obvious inspiration on X-Files and Twin Peaks is not just a matter of aesthetic and/or themes; actually i feel like the whole storytelling flows pretty much like a TV Series. The story being divided into episodes and the recurrent flashbacks are a proof of that, plus the emphasis on character development aswell as a couple of minor plot-twist. I don’t recall another point n’click adventure game being so effective in mimicking so many TV tropes. Also, i think that bitter sense of humor is worth of some compliment. But what really inspires me about Thimbleweed Park is it’s gameplay, and that’s my main focus in this review.
The game was promoted mainly as a spiritual succesor of Maniac Mansion. It’s an interesting fact that, considering Ron Gilbert’s involvement in many of the most succesful point and click adventures of late-80s/early-90s, this game was instantly attached to Maniac Mansion (which wasn’t really the most succesful graphic adventure of that period). But as an advertising campaign, it couldn’t be more truthful.
Maniac Mansion is well known for being the game that spawned a revolution within graphic adventures, by adding the point n’click interface and the verb system. These two inclusions basically defined the canonical gameplay for the genre. From that point onwards, Maniac Mansion has been fairly cited for these introductions. I feel like Maniac Mansion has always been credited for it’s influence, but never really appreciated enough as a game by itself. Maniac Mansion’s main features, compared to other classics, are essentially two: minimal storytelling, and most importantly, a brilliant puzzle design (in my opinion, one of the best of all time). Both elements were heavily correlated. The puzzle-design made a strong emphasis on freedom, not only because you could choose characters with unique habilities, but also because a lot of it’s puzzles could be solved in multiple ways, also having different endings. These freedom was also possible because the story provided almost no restrictions, it was only just a couple of tropes serving as an excuse for the gameplay.
It’s kinda curious to see how, considering Maniac Mansion’s influence, none of these elements were taken into consideration in the development of the adventure genre. On the opposite, the narrative became the dominant element, puzzles becoming more or less a requirement to make the story go forward. Also, when considering games based on comedy, you can notice how puzzles started to play mostly as a joke, therefore relying more and more on moon logic, to the point where they became imposible to solve without a walkthrough. Of course, all of these elements where the basis of the most glorious days of point n’ click adventures, aswell as the causers of their downfall. One can’t help but thinking what would have been if there were just a handful of games with enough marketing taking the simplicity of Maniac Mansion as their basis. Probably wouldn’t have changed a thing but whatever.
I feel like Thimbleweed Park’s attempt at being the spiritual succesor of Maniac Mansion can be summarized pretty much as an attempt of incorporating Maniac Mansion’s puzzle design into a more complex and developed story (This, of course, if we only focus in the correlation between gameplay and narrative, because there are obviously many other aspects to be compared). At times, it definitely succeeds at doing so. Other times, while still being great, the restrictions imposed by the story become very obvious. And one specific part of the game (episode) just feels very underdeveloped when it comes to the puzzles.
A lot has been said about how many things are left unexplained, about how many incongruences there are, and of course, many things have been said about the ending (which i’m not going to spoil, but i have to say that i’m okay with it). Of course, this game is the attempt of picking some key aspects of the Maniac Mansion style and mixing it with a more complex storytelling. But the fact that this game leaves so many things unexplained is, once again, the definitive proof that they were understanding the story as a mere excuse for the gameplay. Or, at least, that they consider gameplay as something equal or even more important than the story. And i applaud that, because that’s a brave design philosophy, specially within this genre, where the opposite idea has slowly degenerated in a market filled with visual novels disguised as graphic adventures.
If i could imagine a reason why Thimbleweed Park was a succesful game, one loved by many, that reason would probably be because of how good it is in creating a world of it’s own. This is not just pure atmosphere (which could be considered an aesthetical effect) but also because of how well written everything is. I feel like the obvious inspiration on X-Files and Twin Peaks is not just a matter of aesthetic and/or themes; actually i feel like the whole storytelling flows pretty much like a TV Series. The story being divided into episodes and the recurrent flashbacks are a proof of that, plus the emphasis on character development aswell as a couple of minor plot-twist. I don’t recall another point n’click adventure game being so effective in mimicking so many TV tropes. Also, i think that bitter sense of humor is worth of some compliment. But what really inspires me about Thimbleweed Park is it’s gameplay, and that’s my main focus in this review.
The game was promoted mainly as a spiritual succesor of Maniac Mansion. It’s an interesting fact that, considering Ron Gilbert’s involvement in many of the most succesful point and click adventures of late-80s/early-90s, this game was instantly attached to Maniac Mansion (which wasn’t really the most succesful graphic adventure of that period). But as an advertising campaign, it couldn’t be more truthful.
Maniac Mansion is well known for being the game that spawned a revolution within graphic adventures, by adding the point n’click interface and the verb system. These two inclusions basically defined the canonical gameplay for the genre. From that point onwards, Maniac Mansion has been fairly cited for these introductions. I feel like Maniac Mansion has always been credited for it’s influence, but never really appreciated enough as a game by itself. Maniac Mansion’s main features, compared to other classics, are essentially two: minimal storytelling, and most importantly, a brilliant puzzle design (in my opinion, one of the best of all time). Both elements were heavily correlated. The puzzle-design made a strong emphasis on freedom, not only because you could choose characters with unique habilities, but also because a lot of it’s puzzles could be solved in multiple ways, also having different endings. These freedom was also possible because the story provided almost no restrictions, it was only just a couple of tropes serving as an excuse for the gameplay.
It’s kinda curious to see how, considering Maniac Mansion’s influence, none of these elements were taken into consideration in the development of the adventure genre. On the opposite, the narrative became the dominant element, puzzles becoming more or less a requirement to make the story go forward. Also, when considering games based on comedy, you can notice how puzzles started to play mostly as a joke, therefore relying more and more on moon logic, to the point where they became imposible to solve without a walkthrough. Of course, all of these elements where the basis of the most glorious days of point n’ click adventures, aswell as the causers of their downfall. One can’t help but thinking what would have been if there were just a handful of games with enough marketing taking the simplicity of Maniac Mansion as their basis. Probably wouldn’t have changed a thing but whatever.
I feel like Thimbleweed Park’s attempt at being the spiritual succesor of Maniac Mansion can be summarized pretty much as an attempt of incorporating Maniac Mansion’s puzzle design into a more complex and developed story (This, of course, if we only focus in the correlation between gameplay and narrative, because there are obviously many other aspects to be compared). At times, it definitely succeeds at doing so. Other times, while still being great, the restrictions imposed by the story become very obvious. And one specific part of the game (episode) just feels very underdeveloped when it comes to the puzzles.
A lot has been said about how many things are left unexplained, about how many incongruences there are, and of course, many things have been said about the ending (which i’m not going to spoil, but i have to say that i’m okay with it). Of course, this game is the attempt of picking some key aspects of the Maniac Mansion style and mixing it with a more complex storytelling. But the fact that this game leaves so many things unexplained is, once again, the definitive proof that they were understanding the story as a mere excuse for the gameplay. Or, at least, that they consider gameplay as something equal or even more important than the story. And i applaud that, because that’s a brave design philosophy, specially within this genre, where the opposite idea has slowly degenerated in a market filled with visual novels disguised as graphic adventures.